Review: Vivien Horler

The Forgotten Book Club, by Kate Storey (Avon)

As old age beckons, the health professionals have come up with a list of things you should do to ensure as healthy and happy decline as possible.

Eat as healthily as you can afford, don’t smoke, drink alcohol in moderation, do some form of mental and physical exercise daily – and stay in touch with people.

This last can be tricky if you’re an elderly person living alone, perhaps no longer wanting to drive, or drive at night, or unable to drive at all. But it sounds as though it’s essential, and is one of the lessons The Forgotten Book Club teaches us.

Londoner Grace Bray is 69 and has lived alone ever since her beloved Frank died suddenly a year ago. She is fortunate in that she has an affectionate daughter and grownup grandson nearby, and they see each other often.

But the house is big and empty, and Grace has never bothered much with friends – her family were always enough for her. Now, since Frank’s death, she can’t remember the last time she had a proper conversation with someone who wasn’t family. It’s easier to keep herself to herself.

Frank, on the other hand, was outgoing and also loved reading, which prompted him to start a book club based at a nearby independent bookshop. He’d invited Grace to join, but Grace isn’t much of a reader, and declined.

One day, a year or so after Frank’s death, Grace takes the brave step of opening the door to his study for the first time. There are the two comfortable armchairs, the shelves of his books books, and the family photograph taken not long before he died.

It all reduces Grace to tears.

That evening daughter Rosie and grandson Jude come for supper, and it becomes clear they’re worried about her. Rosie says she’s concerned about her mother’s mental wellbeing, while Jude points out helpfully that “social interaction slows down brain disease, you know?”

She eventually agrees, after some browbeating, that she will go to the next book club meeting, but she is not at all keen.

When she arrives the half-dozen people present are friendly enough, but she soon discovers this is not like other book clubs. Members do not sit and discuss a single book they’ve all read, nor do they chat about which individual books they’ve been reading. It’s a silent book club, says Crush, the proprietor of the book shop.

“We have a chat, catch up on everyone’s week, then we settle down and read…”

Grace is obliged to buy a book to have something to read, but she finds reading for an hour among strangers excruciating.

At least the quiet at home can be filled with the TV or radio, but here it’s just silence, punctuated by people turning pages. Well before the hour is up, Grace flees.

But of course the members don’t let her get away that easily, and when they find out she was Frank’s wife, they are delighted.

At the same time, Grace discovers her beloved Jude has recently been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, a neurological condition she has always been inclined to dismiss (“Brace up!”). Now she is told Jude is taking the medical version of speed to control his symptoms, which horrifies her.

Things get worse when she starts reading Frank’s reading journals, which contain a lot of personal musings, and discovers he was pretty sure he was also ADHD, along with Rosie. But he had never told Grace, as he didn’t want to worry her. Besides, what would she have made of his taking speed too?

Grace feels the warmth of her little family has been ripped away. She clearly understood nothing of what was going on.

Then she discovers various book club members have problems too: Crush is depressed, Annie is worried about her husband who is falling apart, Lee’s wife left him because he was “boring”.

She starts reading another of Frank’s reading journals and finds he’d set himself three goals he’d not had the time to carry out: to make sure Jude got his diagnosis, to raise awareness of ADHD, and to build up the book club.

Grace is energised. She knows Jude has his diagnosis, but the other two goals are still out there. She can do that.

“For the first time in over a year, she felt like something was driving her forwards, not back, and it was a very good feeling indeed.”

This is a somewhat unusual novel because while it is a charming read about a lonely woman who finds a community and a mission, there is also a lot about neurodiversity and a campaign to destigmatise conditions such as ADHD and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

It turns out there are quite a few novels that deal with these topics, named in the book. I’m not sure this is everyone’s read, but it emphasises the importance of human connection and purpose – and love.